Well, you can add Sen. Charles Grassley to that list- he runs a commercial ag operation here in Iowa and has been a major force in keeping farm subsidies going. These subsidies are not needed- they were started during the farm crisis in the early 80's!

CLO wrote: Well, you can add Sen. Charles Grassley to that list- he runs a commercial ag operation here in Iowa and has been a major force in keeping farm subsidies going. These subsidies are not needed- they were started during the farm crisis in the early 80's!

I think the subsidies do help some farmers, but I have no hard data to back that up.

CLO wrote: Well, you can add Sen. Charles Grassley to that list- he runs a commercial ag operation here in Iowa and has been a major force in keeping farm subsidies going. These subsidies are not needed- they were started during the farm crisis in the early 80's!

I think the subsidies do help some farmers, but I have no hard data to back that up.

I think this may help back it up. If you go, can you take pictures? I would love to see it!

CLO wrote: Well, you can add Sen. Charles Grassley to that list- he runs a commercial ag operation here in Iowa and has been a major force in keeping farm subsidies going. These subsidies are not needed- they were started during the farm crisis in the early 80's!

I think the subsidies do help some farmers, but I have no hard data to back that up.

I think this may help back it up. If you go, can you take pictures? I would love to see it!

Don't get me wrong- I firmly believe most farmers ( and I mean smaller family owned operations) may need subsidies occassionally, but some of our "career" politicians take ADVANTAGE of these. I worked for 23 years for a local family owned manufacturer who made parts for big Ag companies like Deere and Case IH, and the pain that farmers felt reverberated through our local Union as well. Times are different, but some Reps and Senators are keeping these programs afloat after all these years because they cash in on them, which gives assistance to smaller operations a bad rap. My father-in-law was one farmer (140 acres) who would have lost the farm in 1984 if not for the government set- aside programs...